Monday, July 16, 2012

Training log - Week ending 7/14/12

Ups and downs this week.
I’ve suspected that my asthma wasn’t under control and was still
limiting me, so went to a new pulmonologist (one who works with athletes, and
so doesn’t ignore anyone who is capable of running 2 miles in a row). Checked me out, and swapped my meds. Before I was on Singulair plus an albuterol
rescue inhaler. Now I’m on a drug called
Dulera, which only needs one puff and lasts for 12 hours, meaning that I don’t
have to worry about timing my puffs right before a workout/race.

So, tried it out with some trepidation on Friday for our
tempo workout, and WOW. Made a huge
difference. Like ridiculous. Like I had to keep putting the brakes on as I
kept accidentally dropping the pace too much.

[and yes, before you get any ideas, Dulera IS allowed under
USATF/WADA doping regs. I checked….]

Of course, Friday could have just been a very good day, especially since the humidity wasn't too bad, and humidity is a real trigger for me. So I
was excited to try the Dulera again on Sunday’s long run (because there are some side
effects, we’re limiting my use of it to workout days and races, sticking with
my old inhaler for the other days). And
then I developed a bad blister on my right foot during Saturday’s easy
run.

It was a hard decision, but I ended up skipping Sunday’s
long run in favor of the pool. This
decision brought to you by my bad memories of last year’s blister issue (which
resulted in losing about 2 weeks of training, due to a bad reaction to
antibiotics), combined with some stiffness and bad muscle knots in my left calf
that indicated that the blister was altering my gait. I REALLY hated to skip, as the long run is
my favorite workout of the week and I was really excited to see how it went
with the new asthma drugs. Plus I’m 8
weeks out from my goal half-marathon, meaning that it’s time to start doing
some long runs. But…better one run too
few than one run too many.

So, did a pool-running long run instead, with some sections
at “marathon pace” effort. Apparently my
“marathon effort” in the pool looks suspiciously like drowning, resulting in
some disruption of my workout by well-meaning lifeguards. *sigh*.
No one ever thinks I’m drowning on land.

As of this morning (Monday) everything feels good (including
the calf), so I’m patting myself on the back for my restraint. Hopefully I won’t pull a muscle doing so.

Dailies

Monday: In the morning, 45 minutes of easy
pool-running for 4.5 miles, plus 1000 yards of swimming breathing drills, and
then some very light weights work. Did a
3 mile shakeout at night (8:19 pace) plus foam rolling.

Tuesday: In the morning, 14 miles including a workout
of 8 hill repeats – nonstop circuit of up a hill for about 2 minutes, a 90
second easy jog, a stride, and then some more easy jogging to the bottom (whole
circuit takes ~5 minutes). Followed
with injury prevention work and 25 minutes of easy pool-running. Floor barre and foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: In the morning, 11.5 miles very easy (8:11
pace) and then a yoga class. Later, did
another 4.5 miles easy (7:47 pace). Foam
rolling and stretching at night.

Thursday: In the morning, upper body strengthwork and
injury prevention exercises, followed by 50 minutes of easy poolrunning for “5
miles” and 600 yards swimming breathing drills Foam rolling and stretching at night.

Friday: In the morning, 13 miles, including a tempo
workout of 2x2 miles plus a bonus mile, with 800m jogging recovery (plus water
break). Splits were 12:37 (6:29/6:08),
12:26 (6:18/6:08) and then 5:58. Foam-rolling
in the afternoon.

Saturday: In the
morning, 11 miles easy (8:02 pace). Upper
body strengthwork plus stretching and foam rolling in the afternoon.

Sunday: In the morning,
a pool-running “long run” of 1:40, going for the equivalent of 4 miles, 3
miles, 2 miles, 1 mile at marathon pace, split by “1 mile” recoveries. Right leg cramped up on the 2 mile rep, so I
skipped the last “mile” so as not to injure myself in the pool. Followed with 1400m of swimming breathing
drills. Hot yoga and foamrolling in the afternoon.

Hey - I saw Dr. Carlos Picone at Chevy Chase Pulmonary. He has an office at Sibley, and another in Chevy Chase, MD.

He was recommended to me as a runner. Turns out, he's not. But he is open to working with athletes, and not assuming that you don't have a problem simply because you can run or because your impaired is still good compared to the norm for a sedentary individual.

Keep in mind, if the inhaler NEVER worked for you, then you may not have bronchoconstriction/asthma - they don't do anything if you're not experiencing constriction. In my case, the albuterol worked for a while; I've just been requiring more and more puffs.

Full slew of race reports here (from my first in June 2007 to 2010) and here (2011).

workouts

(you can click on the link to see the details)

Pool running conversion

I convert my pool-running into “mileage” with this formula:

1)10 minutes “easy” in the pool equals one mile

2)workouts translate by time into mileage, with the recoveries not counting for mileage.For example, I would normally cover half a mile in 3:00 during an interval workout, and 1.5 miles in 10:00 during a tempo.So 8x3:00 at interval effort is 4 miles, and 10 minutes at tempo effort is 1.5 miles.